When you are looking at all the premium level pickleball paddles on the market, you’ll see a lot of the same thing. Square shaped paddles made out of the same materials. It seems that almost every company is making copy cat paddles of each other. All except TMPR Sports.
TMPR Sports’ paddles don’t look like other paddles. They are challenging the status quo by changing the shape of their paddles from a traditionally square shape to a more rounded shape.
The recent introduction of their Luxe Series features four unique paddle shapes that each have their own strengths. Depending on your style of play and needs, you’ll find a shape that will fit and improve your game.
Before reviewing the paddles in the Luxe Series, I had the pleasure to speak with the owner, Doug Clark, about his brand. He and his company have put a lot of research and development into the shapes of their paddles, knowing that is an area that many other brands overlook. I’m willing to bet that all pickleball paddles will begin to get more rounded over time, but for now, TMPR Sports is way ahead of the game and leading the way.
You can learn more about TMPR Sports on their website.
I drilled and played over 40 games with TMPR Sports’ new Luxe Series pickleball paddles to compare and review them. In addition, I demoed them with players of all different levels to get their opinions to incorporate in my final reviews.
Introduction to the Luxe Series
This series of paddles was designed to have great feel and improve your soft game. They all feature a thicker, high quality polymer core with a textured fiberglass face. Thicker cores help soften the paddle and increase feel, while a fiberglass face is known for adding extra power. The combination of the fiberglass face with the thicker core is a winning mix to create a superior control paddle with enough power to speed up the ball when you need to.
Although each paddle in the Luxe Series has the same core and face, they all play a little differently depending on the shape.
Here’s a summary of my review on each paddle in the series. You can click through to read the full review at the end of each paddle’s summary if you want to dive deeper.
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If you think TMPR has the right paddle for you, get $10 off your purchase at tmprsports.com using the coupon code, PBFX10.
SHOP TMPR PaddlesThe Oculus LX
The Oculus LX is an innovative design that features their most rounded shape. A more rounded paddle improves the maneuverability of the paddle, reduces vibration, and increases the size of the sweet spot.
This is the most player friendly paddle in the Luxe Series. The highlights of its performance are its excellent feel and large sweet spot. My soft game and defense benefited with this paddle the most.
Thicker core paddles, in general, improve feel at the sacrifice of a smaller sweet spot and a little power. However, this paddle defied the norm with its fantastic control and edge to edge sweet spot. Compared to all the other paddles in the series, this one probably has the least amount of power, but I could still produce enough power with it myself when I needed it.
Who Would Like This Paddle?
This is an instant game improvement paddle. Players of all levels commented on how the paddle instantly improved their soft game and reduced the amount of mishits because of its large sweet spot.
If you want a player friendly paddle that will help you control your drop shots, improve your dinking consistency, reduce errors, improve your defense, and help you outlast your opponents, then this is a great paddle for you.
This paddle fit my style of play really well since I like to control the pace of the game and be patient. It will be coming out of my bag often.
The Rave LX
The Rave LX is a new paddle shape that was introduced with the Luxe series. It is an elongated paddle at 16.5″ long and is more oval shaped than any other elongated paddle out there.
The elongated shape was really nice around the net when dinking. Thanks to the extra length, I went after and picked up a lot of dink volleys that I don’t usually go for. I found that the shape also helped in moments when I was digging shots or scrambling, I was able to keep more rallies alive as a result.
Compared to other elongated paddles, this one was more well balanced and easier to move around. The rounded shape seemed to produce a little less drag.
Who Would Like This Paddle?
If you like to play aggressively, then you’ll benefit from the extra power and reach from the elongated shape of the Rave LX. You can reach more balls and punish your opponents on the attack, but you can also maintain control of the pace of the game and hit finesse shots when you need to thanks to its Luxe Core.
Intermediate to advanced players tended to prefer this shape over the others in the Luxe Series. They liked the benefits of a longer paddle that felt well balanced and wasn’t clunky in their hands. Less experienced players who also wanted the benefits of a little extra reach gravitated to the Tantrum LX because it has more reach too, but also has a larger sweet spot.
The Tantrum LX
The slightly elongated face and curved sides of the Tantrum LX make it a very player friendly paddle with some extra reach. It has a large sweet spot, not quite as big as the Oculus LX, but more than the Rave LX.
Staying true to the Luxe Series, it has fantastic control and feel. The slightly elongated face gives you more reach for volley dinks, scrambling, and powerful overheads.
It has best balance of forgiveness, control, and power when compared to the other shapes in the series. Making it a great option if you know you want one of TMPR’s Luxe Series paddles because of their excellent control but aren’t sure which shape is best for you.
Who Would Like This Paddle?
The Ascend LX
The Ascend LX is one of TMPR Sports more unique shapes. It was designed with tennis pros to cater to players with a tennis or racquetball background.
The longer handle and steep neck put the face of the paddle further away from your hand like a tennis or racquetball racquet. Giving it a familiar feel to people with those backgrounds.
However, having the face further away from your hand can make it more difficult to wield for players new to the sport and don’t have much racquet sport experience.
This paddle is has great touch and is easy to maneuver when playing at the net. Its shape makes it easy to disguise attacks and gives you a little extra reach to pick more balls out of the air.
Who Would Like This Paddle?
The highlights of this paddle for me were its control and ease of attacking at the net. It’s longer length, small profile, and quick maneuverability made it easy to disguise attacks and put balls away.
And, like all paddles in the Luxe Series, it had fantastic control with dinks, drops, and finesse shots.
If you have an aggressive play style then you’ll like what this paddle does for you when attacking at the net. If you have a tennis or racquetball background then this paddle will feel more natural in your hands than more traditional paddle shapes.
If you are newer to the sport and don’t have a strong racquet sport background, then I would recommend the Tantrum LX or the Oculus LX over the Ascend LX.
Get $10 Off of TMPR Paddles
If you think TMPR has the right paddle for you, get $10 off your purchase at tmprsports.com using the coupon code, PBFX10.
SHOP TMPR Paddles
